To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

[SarahDisney]

Yay Gigi!!

 

[canglim52]

BIG NEWS!!!!

G got the job!!!!!!

Also, one of the realtors that we didn't hire called and they've already got an interested buyer. We don't even go on the market until next Tuesday!

That’s great news!! Yay G!!

 

[sourire]

BIG NEWS!!!!

G got the job!!!!!!

Woooooo congrats!!!!

 

[FredtheDuck]

Exciting stuff all around!!! How wonderful!

 

[lhermiston]

BIG NEWS!!!!

G got the job!!!!!!

Also, one of the realtors that we didn't hire called and they've already got an interested buyer. We don't even go on the market until next Tuesday!

Congrats!

 

[mrsg00fy]

BIG NEWS!!!!

G got the job!!!!!!

Also, one of the realtors that we didn't hire called and they've already got an interested buyer. We don't even go on the market until next Tuesday!

Wonderful news!!

 

[Agent Z]

BIG NEWS!!!!

G got the job!!!!!!

Yay, that's awesome! Congrats!

and !

So what's your motivation for signing up for your first ever 10k?

I've done 5ks, so I figured a 10k was the natural progression from there. Also, I didn't want my run through Disney to be so short.

How's the weather for you? By the time I finished my run today, all my footprints from leaving the house had been completely covered by snow... As I was running I just kept thinking how different the 10k in Florida will be. I'm definitely ready for some actual spring weather!

 

[DopeyBadger]

I've done 5ks, so I figured a 10k was the natural progression from there. Also, I didn't want my run through Disney to be so short.

That's a great reason!

How's the weather for you? By the time I finished my run today, all my footprints from leaving the house had been completely covered by snow... As I was running I just kept thinking how different the 10k in Florida will be. I'm definitely ready for some actual spring weather!

Thankfully got home before the heavy stuff started. But as soon as we got home it was coming down at about an inch per hour. Looks like we've got another 2 headed our way. Worst week for Hello Fresh to mess-up and not send us our meals. Pizza it is, since we can't leave the house! I'm right there with you and hope we get an actual spring and just don't go right to summer...

 

[KSellers88]

Go Gigi! Go Gigi! WOO WOO!

 

[roxymama]

Congrats Gigi!!!!

 

[DopeyBadger]

56 Days to Go (Happy Birthday! Best present is the end of Daniels Recovery!)

Date - Day - Scheduled Workouts (Intervals within desired pace)

4/16/18 - M - OFF
4/17/18 - T - MCR Stage 2A + 10 miles @ EB (8:33 min/mile)
4/18/18 - W - FTP Test
4/19/18 - R - MCR Stage 2A + 7 miles @ EA (9:11 min/mile)
4/20/18 - F - 7 miles @ EB (8:33 min/mile)
4/21/18 - Sat - 12 miles @ LR (7:25 min/mile) *11/11 intervals hit
4/22/18 - Sun - FTP Builder W6D3

Running duration = 5:44 hours
Running mileage = 43.2 miles
Indoor Virtual Biking duration = 1:50 hours
Indoor Virtual Biking mileage = 40.3 miles
Total (training) duration = 7:35 hours
Total (training) mileage = 83.5 miles
Number of running SOS intervals within pace = 11/11 (100%)

*I'm posting this a day early to stay ahead. I've got a new training plan post to write!

Monday

Took some time off from work so that I could go to G's audition. Was happy to see her in action and apparently she crushed it, because later in the week we found out she got the job!

Tuesday

Time to move on to McMillan Stage 2! Should I be excited or scared???

Front Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Side Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Scissor Kick - 2 x 10 reps w/ 10 sec rest
Metronome - 15 reps
Back Extension - 2 x 10 reps
Modified Jane Fonda - 30 reps per leg
Good Mornings - 10 reps

I'm not going to mince words. I can do Front Plank with leg movements (lifting the leg off the ground). However Side Planks with leg movements, that's a WHOLE LOTTA NOPE! Holy cow, how is that even possible??? I could do maybe 1-3 reps in the time the person in the video can slowly do 10 reps. I just can't seem to life my leg off the ground. Scissor kicks are easy. Metronome is old hat at this time. Back extension without an exercise ball is probably a lot less useful. Modified Jane Fondas are really useful. McMillan believes they are a critical runner's core workout. Mostly for strengthening hips. I can certainly feel it. Good Mornings are simply a bowing type maneuver when standing. Feels like stretching out the hamstrings.

Originally, the afternoon was scheduled as a 4 mile run with a bike. But Wednesday was going to be 5-8 inches of snow. My goal is to continue to increase my running in my last week of Daniels recovery. So losing my 7 miler on Wed would be devastating to continuing to make progress. So I balanced the (4 run+bike) + (7 run) into a 10 miler run on Tuesday and moving the FTP Test from Thursday to Wednesday (because I won't be able to run). So 10 miler it is. I chose 10 miles (instead of 11 miles (4+7)) because 10 should fall under 90 min and still keep it relatively easy.

In total, it was 10 miles at a very consistent 8:02 min/mile. The HR was 138 which is close to where I want that EB pace to be. I'm probably only off by about 15 sec/mile now from where I want to be.

Wednesday

Tons of snow as predicted. Glad I switched up the schedule.

FTP (Functional Threshold Power) Test #2. I had initially done a FTP test back at the beginning of the Daniels recovery cycle. I got a value of 299 watts. I figured since the recovery cycle is almost over and the plan is to move to 5 days run and 1 day bike, then I needed another assessment to make sure I was training at an appropriate wattage. Again though, it's not the raw value that matters, but that the workouts are based on %FTP. With that being said, it's quite obvious now that my setup isn't reading right. I did notice this morning (Sunday) that my tires were a little low so that's going to influence the numbers. But, I got a FTP of 466 which is not possible (WAY too high). The tires likely play a role in that. The biggest problem is that at my weight, that means my watt/kg is near super human. Zwift flagged it for an issue with the setup. Since I can't really change much (other than inflate the tires more), then I decided to change my weight in game. This way my watts/kg isn't outrageous and I can still follow my achieved FTP value. Definitely felt like a solid effort as my HR got up to 150. I was sweating up a storm and definitely fatigued at the end.

Thursday

McMillan Stage 2 again! Definitely scared of the side planks!

Front Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Side Plank with leg movements - 10 reps per leg
Scissor Kick - 2 x 10 reps w/ 10 sec rest
Metronome - 15 reps
Back Extension - 2 x 10 reps
Modified Jane Fonda - 30 reps per leg
Good Mornings - 10 reps

Mostly achieved. Just the side planks were not working for me.

In total, 7 miles at 8:21 min/mile and 137 HR.

Friday

Another 7 mile easy day. Pace of 8:00 with a HR of 140. The HR is a touch high. Still must be a little extra fatigued cardiovascularly from the FTP test.

Saturday

I had a lot scheduled for the day for home stuff (gotta get ready for the market). So I was up early and out the door to get my 12 miler done. Longest run since Dopey at just under 90 minutes. Still hoping that new LR pace will be sustainable for a longer duration. Didn't bust out the pace from the moment the run started (so victory over last week). The last 11 miles were relatively consistent even with the constant undulating hills at 7:23, 7:23, 7:22, 7:32, 7:23, 7:28, 7:22, 7:28, 7:25, 7:23 and 7:30. I rounded the corner after mile 3.5 and wasn't sure I was going to make it. Felt like I needed a breather. But I decided to forge ahead and was able to make it to mile 7 before taking a few seconds of rest. Then rounded the corner of mile 11 and took an additional breather. Definitely making good progress with this pace. The HR was a touch high at 145, but reasonable. Overall the pace average was 7:25 (with goal of 7:25) and 11/11 intervals were hit within the +/- 10 second LR window.

Spent the rest of the day doing house duties and I was beat by the day's end.

Sunday

Got up early so I could watch the GOAT race the London Marathon. Kipchoge did not disappoint and once again brought home the title. 11 marathons and 10 wins. An impressive record.

I had a hard time making a choice on this run. The 12 miler was a touch harder than originally scheduled. But I wanted to keep the running train going. It was originally scheduled at 7 miles run + bike. So I decided to keep the run as is, and then just cut the bike in half.

The 7 mile run went really well. Not quite where I want to be after 6 weeks of recovery. But really really close and moving in the right direction. 7 miles in 8:21 pace with a HR of 133. That puts me about 5 seconds off the pace I want to be at (EA 8:16) for a near matching HR (133 vs 132). With the actual training starting Tuesday, I'm confident things will start returning back to form.

Unfortunately G's been sick all day. Slept almost 14-16 hours. Hoping she can make a turnaround in time for Tuesday.

 

[DopeyBadger]

First of many for the weekend!

Name: SheHulk
Race/Distance: Half Marathon
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 13 weeks
Continuous or Run/Walk: Continuous
Days per Week: 5
# of Hard Days (per week): 2
Peak Week Duration: 6:04:59
Peak Week Mileage: 30
Peak Single Run Duration: 1:58:05
Peak Single Run Mileage: 10 miles
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 2:21:46
Expectations Going into it: I wanted to PR, really wanted to go sub 2:20. Given cutbacks in my training I didn't know what to expect actually.
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: Not great. We started out with a more ambitious plan, coming off a pretty successful marathon training cycle for me. But I was sick for about a month and got tired of feeling tired, and struggling to complete runs at pace, and finally said no mas. Billy very graciously agreed to rewrite my plan, to cut back my miles for the remaining 6 weeks of the race, reasoning that a plan isn't successful if you just can't follow it or are miserable doing it. Even with the cutbacks I missed a T pace run due to 15 inches of snow late in the game. Missed a few very easy runs too due to scheduling difficulties (sorry Billy!)
Testimonial: Even given all the obstacles listed above, I still PRed! I ran a 2:19:09, giving me that long-wished-for sub-2:20. Of course now I am wondering what could have been had I actually followed the original, full, plan, and not cut back. But life happens and in running you have to be able to roll with it. Billy of course provided a lot of emotional labor getting me to that attitude and convincing me I am not a failure, even though I could not follow the original schedule of runs. I'm looking forward to what's next. I'm thrilled I was still able to pull out a PR.

 

[lhermiston]

HBD, DB!

 

[lhermiston]

Way to go, @SheHulk!

 

[DopeyBadger]

2018 Winter/Spring Training Cycle - Jack Daniels Half Marathon Training (#2!)

Better late than never! After my diagnosis with a fibula stress fracture post-Dopey, my whole schedule got thrown off completely. I had to learn a whole new routine with Daniels Recovery training. I also picked up two new fitness regimens along the way (biking and McMillan core routine). I'm confident that this forced adjustment is going to cause me to come back better than ever (at least that's the hope). I'm still not back to where I was pre-Dopey, but I certainly can't complain with the good progress thus far. Next up though is a written in pencil local HM, Hot2Trot HM. This is the first year they're doing a HM, and I'm game. I'll wait to sign up until I feel confident that I'll be able to race it. Only 8 weeks to go, but I feel I've got enough time to make the progress I desire. So without further ado, let's see the current plan:

Pacing:

I decided to stick with the pacing scheme from where I thought I was pre-Dopey. I'm always willing to adjust down if I need to, but I feel confident this is where I can be once actual training resumes. The HR data shows I'm reasonably close to this.



My EA has been around 8:20 lately and my EB around 8:00. So, it might just be a matter of doing non-aerobic focused pacing. Time will tell.

The Schedule:

So I decided to write a condensed Daniels HM plan. Only 8 weeks long which is a little short of ideal. I'm moving to 5 days running and 1 day biking (or run+bike).



So the first week starts off with R pacing, M Tempo pacing and a 14 mile LR. In addition, I've got my McMillan Core Routine and a biking day. The goal was to reduce the running training load and supplement it with biking. So I spent a lot of hours combing through all of the Zwift workouts to try and find ones with a TSS (stress score) of about 90-140. In the past, when I was doing my normal training I would do 90 min of easy running on Saturdays. I've decided that was the best running workout to swap out. That 90 min easy running usually gave a Stravistix stress score of 140. So the goal was to find a bike or run+bike combo that would provide a similar training load. This past week was 5:44 hours of running and 43 miles. So the 6:13 and 47.6 is a natural progression from there. So I had to pull back a touch on the easy days to make sure the training load stayed low enough. The overall time spent training is relatively similar. Next, I went through the rules of Daniels and made sure each of the types of runs fell into the desired ranges.



One more week of R and then transition into I paced runs (my nemesis). The training duration/miles is kept relatively flat as the intensity of the pacing increases. Thus, the training load from a stress standpoint will continue to rise. Moved on to the Stage 2B of McMillan and found some additional bike rides for Saturdays.



A Disney trip to schedule around. I promised Steph that I wouldn't run while on this vacation (unlike the last 5 Disney trips). I can focus solely on the vacation and nothing fitness related. It's a relatively short trip (Wednesday to Saturday). I can get a short run in prior to leaving Wednesday and should be able to get a short run in upon returning on Saturday. The week will serve as a step back from a training load standpoint (7 hrs and 46 miles). But I may need to pull back more dependent on how the training goes up to that point. That 10 mile M Tempo day will be a good test. These last 4 weeks prior to race day will pull back the hard days from 3 a week to 2 a week. This will help allow my body to recover and hopefully be fresh for race day.



Taper time. Just two hard workouts per week and then week of has plenty of rest prior to the race. I've got it pencilled in as a 1:25 attempt (to aim for that Corral A assignment for Chicago), but honestly I'll be happy with a PR (1:30:35). The conditions are tough to predict as it is mid-summer. I do plan on doing some heat acclimation training late in the plan (overdressing in the summer) to hopefully combat the possible race day conditions.

That's the current plan as written. I'm certainly willing to adjust if my body says so. We shall see how this plan goes vs the last one. The end goal is to be in a good place when Chicago training starts. So healthy is definitely a victory.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #143
Name: Bree
Race/Distance: Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 14 weeks
Continuous or Run/Walk: Continuous
Days per Week: 5
# of Hard Days (per week): 2 and 3 alternating
Peak Week Duration: 7:05:17
Peak Week Mileage: 37.26
Peak Single Run Duration: 2:32:28
Peak Single Run Mileage: 13.1
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 2:28:37
Expectations Going into it: To be able to finish a half marathon in less than 2:20:00
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: Almost exactly as written. Had some adjustments here and there, but I never missed a run.
Testimonial: As a 41yo woman I never expected I would be back to this fitness level again. I'm running faster and longer than I have in years. Almost every week brought a new challenge for me and I loved the variety of training runs. Before this plan I was out there running every run as fast as I could and not seeing any real improvement. The whole idea of running slow to race fast was new to me, but I was willing to give it a chance. It's a chance I was glad I took. Not only was I able to set a new PR, but I completely destroyed my old one. I was able to cut 14:59 off my previous PR and finished the SWDS Half Marathon with a time of 2:13:38

 

[DopeyBadger]

Plan #136
Name: roxymama
Race/Distance: Half Marathon
Training Plan Duration (weeks): 14
Continuous or Run/Walk: continuous
Days per Week: 5, switched to 4 week 8 through duration
# of Hard Days (per week): varied
Peak Week Duration: 3:58:37
Peak Week Mileage: 22
Peak Single Run Duration: 1:23
Peak Single Run Mileage: 8 miles
PR at Distance Going into it (including when it occurred): 2:27:25 May 2017
Expectations Going into it: My hope was just to have the endurance to complete the distance and if I got a PR that would be icing on the cake but not the intention on race morning.
How closely were you able to follow the plan as written: the plan went through a few phases due to life circumstances. We started with 5 days and week and on week 8 switched to 4 per week. I had to take off a short period of time prior to week 8 and our focus went from goal crushing to just maintaining my fitness and avoiding injury since this was not my "A" race. With Billy's plans I usually try to do almost every single training run as planned, but this cycle wasn't that way.
Testimonial:
Last Fall Billy's plans had gotten me through a really hot fall half marathon in great shape, a goal-crushing 10k PR where I ran faster paced than any of my best 5ks, and a 15k PR. I was excited to see how I could handle a 5 day a week plan with both a speed and endurance focus for a spring half marathon. It started out great with a 1st place in my age for a local 5k. But because of a change in workload and some family health issues I ended up missing more training runs that I normally do. Billy helped me re-prioritize and re-designed my plan to keep my endurance up so that I could complete my half instead of racing for my best time. His philosophies on effort based training really helped me listen to my body during the race and helped me pace myself internally. I was well on pace for a PR by mile 9 and began feeling some tightness in my calves on a rolling hills filled last 4 miles and I backed off on trying to push through the pain and settled into what was comfortable. And I PR'd anyways!!! 2:25:38 so almost two full minutes off my best time. I know with a full training schedule completed how Billy wrote it that I could have done even better. And if I had pushed more through the pain that day I could have whacked even more minutes off but we have an A goal race for me in October and I will be reaching out to him again for my next plan

 

[Chaitali]

Happy birthday and also congrats on those great testimonials coming out of Dark Side weekend!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Happy birthday and also congrats on those great testimonials coming out of Dark Side weekend!

Thanks!

 

[jennamfeo]

However Side Planks with leg movements, that's a WHOLE LOTTA NOPE! Holy cow, how is that even possible??? I could do maybe 1-3 reps in the time the person in the video can slowly do 10 reps. I just can't seem to life my leg off the ground.

Are you just lifting your top leg in the air and back down, kind of like a one sided scissor kick? I haven't tried these before but I'm intrigued...